Spent the weekend rethinking one of my finished manuscripts at a novel revision workshop with the above-mentioned team. Laura's book is "The Teashop Girls," and you should definitely check it out. I mean, it's set in Madison, Wisconsin, the center of the known universe. You knew that, right? Alex was her editor, plus wears completely awesome shoes. AND buys Michael's frozen custard in 4 different flavors for the group. What more could you want in an editor?
Revision, revision, revision... Just when you think you've finished a manuscript, you learn something new about the bad habits you have as a writer and must go back and correct the lot of them. But really, it was fun to hear Alex & Laura comment on first pages of our manuscripts. It gave us the outsider's (I'm talking editor's, agent's, readers') perspective. So easy to get all coiled up in what you THINK you're communicating that you can't see what you did! So I'm grateful and planning a full-scale overhaul of my poor old manuscript.
Actually, I don't think revising it'll take that long. I mean, now I know what I'm doing. Don't laugh at me. Please.
Also learned a lot about marketing. It was very interesting to hear what Laura had done and continues to do in tandem with what S&S did for her book. I'm sure having Alex as editor was a huge spur in marketing it, because not only does she wear cowboy boots, she was a marketing major and started life at S&S in marketing. Didn't I say she was the editor to get?
Okay, I began the Bridget Zinn Memorial Cool Retreat Shoes Gallery in the fall (see my scrapbook) and had some good fun with that. I could NOT resist continuing the beast at this event. Some of you may be wondering about my criteria for picking cool shoes. It's pretty loose. They do not have to be ultra-chic (ha! we're talking Wisconsin, people!), in pristine shape or cause teeth-gnashing envy. Since I am the sole judge and jury of what goes into the gallery, I just go by my gut reaction to the shoes I see wandering the floors of the event. Wine helps. Unusual and colorful are two things that do catch my eye. Please visit my "Novel Shoes" gallery to get a gander at what passed for cool this time. A very colorful lot, I must say!
I will also upload some photos in the "Novel" gallery so you can see some of the people who attended (and they can see what they looked like to my lens). Please don't be offended if you attended and your photo didn't make it into the gallery. I snapped shots of everyone, but my sadly aging eyes gravely misjudged the focus of some of them. And I know you don't want to appear in public all blurry and goofy looking. If you do, let me know and I'm happy to post.
For a detailed and informative look at the workshop, please visit Judy Bryan's blog at judybryan.livejournal.com/. She's got a good head on her, that girl, so you'll get a version that's not all concerned with shoes and boots. Enjoy!
Add a Comment